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Terry snickered. “She was driving the girls, and at that point, Aunt Daphne came out to play. She wanted to deal with the terrorists, but she accepted I would be dealing with the terrorists. I haven’t told her Ian dealt with the terrorists. In her world, I did the heavy lifting. She adores Ian, make no mistake about that, but she forgets Ian is absolutely able and willing to slag a tank in less than ten seconds. A flesh and blood terrorist isn’t a challenge.”

Ethan’s mother heaved a sigh. “I tried to tell Will that, but he didn’t listen. Ian, once he sees your children, he will realize they’re living, breathing people his cousin was responsible for. Then he’s going to have a fit. I’m pretty sure you are going to be the calmest person in my palace by the end of the day, and you’re the one who got shot!”

“I’m just going to apologize in advance for the chaos I’m going to create once the fever hits.”

“Why are you going to be fevered? I’ve been warned like six times already that you are definitely going to have a fever, it’s going to be a nasty one, and when you get nasty fevers, you wander around in a rather mindless state. I was given instructions to close all doors, because you can’t figure out how to operate doors when fevered.” The queen opened the door for my suite and waited for me to hobble inside. Isla slept in a large cage in the sitting room, which had numerous levels for her to explore, toys dangling from most surfaces, and several blankets over the top. “I’m not sure I can handle you with a fever, Ian.”

I reminded myself I needed to title her or call her Mom, and then I decided to ham it up and whine, “Mom, I’m not that bad.”

“Yes, you are. And my boys try that on me, and it doesn’t work, but you might get away with it depending on the reason for your fever. Talk, child!”

I grinned at her. “I may have used an enhancer, and one of the side effects is a fever. As I didn’t want to take any chances with an airstrip loaded with terrorists, I went to town. I don’t have exertion, though. The enhancer has a fail-safe in it; if it detects exertion, it suppresses and shuts down most talent usage.”

“I am accepting this explanation, and I’m not telling anyone you have an enhancer, because the only thing that might worry me more than a New Yorker is a New Yorker with an enhancer. Please tell me those assholes didn’t have enhancers.”

“Very few people know I have an enhancer, and Dr. Stanton stole it so it could be checked. I hope I get it back. It cost me a fortune—and I want it if a few people are stupid enough to come near me right now. And yes, I mean your ex, Madelyn. I really want to punch him in the mouth.”

“I’d rather he take a long walk off a short pier. He doesn’t know how to swim.”

I eyed her with a growing sense of worry. “Do you know how to swim?”

“I can doggy paddle, but that’s it.”

“I’m teaching you how to swim, and once I’m done teaching you how to swim, I’m teaching you how to beat the shit out of anyone who gets in your space that you don’t want in your space,” I informed her in a solemn tone. “After I’m done doing that, I will be teaching you how to use a gun.”

Terry sighed, pointed at a nearby armchair, and snapped his fingers. “Sit down, Ian. Madelyn will be fine, and we have a team watching the ex. There may be some reasons for concern, but the Californians do not take kindly to abusive assholes. That reminds me, Madelyn, we need a truth verification he struck you. I know we did verifications in New York, but we need them done here. California has strict laws about abuse, especially after what happened to Cassandra, and we just need a local documented record.”

Ethan’s mother wrinkled her nose and got out her phone, tapping at the screen. “There has to be a truth sensor in this place somewhere. I’m sure we can find one and get that paperwork processed in ten minutes flat. Ian, in California, all you have to do to take legal action is notify the abuser there is an active and verified record of assault against a domestic partner. If he doesn’t immediately leave, you are permitted to use force to make him leave. If he does not get the hint, you can dispatch him however you see fit. As Madelyn’s temporary residence is the palace for your visit, he is not permitted to step foot on royal property—any royal property. If there’s a restraining order in place, you don’t have to notify the abuser; they know they aren’t supposed to be anywhere near their target.”

As Terry would help me sit if I didn’t listen to him, I did as told, thumping onto the cushion and stretching out my legs. Both ached, albeit for different reasons. “I like some of these rules, Terry. Can we make a list of them for my sister?”

“I am sure your sister would be willing to discuss it with you. If it keeps you awake, I’ll even text her that she needs to be your entertainment until supper, and she’ll get into an argument over it with you.” The RPS agent chuckled, removed Pink Lady from his pocket, and handed her to me before escaping his jacket, which hadn’t escaped from our trip to the airstrip unscathed. He held up the garment, stuck his finger through a bullet hole through the edge, and shook his head. “I keep telling them we need to adjust the bulletproofing to go farther down the jacket. Had the angle been different, that might have hurt.”

“Your slacks don’t have bulletproofing?”

“They do, but it’s not complete protection.” Terry sighed, and his shoulders slumped. “I liked this jacket, too.”

“You have at least four jackets exactly like it,” I reminded him, settling Pink Lady on my shoulder and petting her little head. She snuggled with me, and I smiled at her. “You could patch it and use it for mud run days.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll do that. I’ll just have some explaining to do when Olivia finds out.”

“Just tell them the terrorists did it, and the terrorists did not live to learn from their mistake.”

The RPS agent chuckled, and he tossed his jacket onto one of the free chairs. “Madelyn, if you need to do anything or take a breather, I can keep an eye on him for a few minutes. Perhaps bring some of your art supplies in? We acquired some watercolor painting books for Ian, so maybe he can be kept occupied that way. He’s always enjoyed art, and I’m sure watching you paint will be of interest to him. He would prefer if his sister sent him to museums and fine art exhibits more often.”

I eyed Terry, wondering what his game was. However, he told nothing but the truth. “Upon learning, as a child, that I could ask RPS agents to take me to museums and art galleries without consequence, I asked early and often, and I dragged Rachel along with me whenever I could.” I even had a few paintings my parents had acquired for me because during the rare times I’d been allowed to be the conversationalist, I’d babbled about them to the point my father had decided to investigate and see what I was on about.

My mother couldn’t have cared less about art, but my father had at least one redeemable characteristic, and an enjoyment of some art was it.

“Oh. Do you have a preferred style?”

“Once, my parents took me to France, and I pulled that stunt about one of the paintings. The museum was about to change over their stock, and I did nothing but gush about that painting. I think I was maybe eight or nine at the time. My mother was a hair from killing me because France’s monarchs were with us. Her Royal Majesty bailed my ass out, because she encouraged my gushing, and she praised me to my mother about my interest in art.” Careful to keep from dislodging Pink Lady, I dug out my phone, went into my photo gallery, and located a picture of the painting in question. “Right now, it’s in the family wing of the palace, because it was one of the only ways Rachel could get me to visit her. She’d ambush me when I visited my painting. It’s actually painted by two artists. Andries Daniels painted everything except parts of the vase, which was done by Frans Francken II.” I showed her the painting, which depicted tulips in a vase on a dark background resting upon a wooden tabletop. “We actually have a bunch of these tulips at the palace because I obsessed over this painting. I didn’t know my father had arranged to purchase it for me until we were about to leave France. He wanted to keep me out of trouble, so he said I had to guard it and make sure nobody except the specialty movers touched it, as it was my painting and he wasn’t going to keep an eye on it. I got to escort it onto the plane. My mother actually took that photograph and had it on her phone at the time, and I basically stared at it the entire flight.”

“Isn’t it a long flight?” Madelyn blurted.

“I stared at a painting for at least six hours on the plane,” I confirmed. “At some point, I went to sleep, but I was the quietest person on that flight. My mother sometimes bribed me with random paintings if she knew we had a long flight ahead of us, as she could just give me a phone with the pictures, and I’d amuse myself.”

“I can’t tell if that’s sad or adorable.”

“Can it be both? It’s probably both. But Terry’s right. I have eternal patience when it comes to watching people paint.”

“I’ll go get the painting kit, but I’m not responsible if Daphne finds me.”

I raised a brow at that. “You don’t like Daphne?”

“I like her a lot, but if she cries she didn’t kill any terrorists today one more time, I might throw something at her.”

Well, some problems were easier to solve than others, and I pointed at the throw pillows on the couch, as everyone in the room might retaliate if I stood without permission. “Take one of those. If you throw it at her, no harm is done, she learns she has to stop whining when she misses an opportunity to kill terrorists, and you feel better.”

For the rest of my life, I would do my best to make Madelyn smile. She grabbed one of the pillows, tucked it under her arm, and said, “I’ll be back soon. Try not to get into trouble, Ian.”

“I’m going to do my best to stay out of trouble until after dinner, but all bets are off after that.”

“That’s reasonable. And from all accounts, you’ve earned being a pain in the ass, so I’ll look the other way, but just this once.”

I waited for her to leave the room before narrowing my eyes and giving Terry my undivided attention. “Explain yourself, Terry. Why did you want her out of the room for at least ten minutes?”

“Her abuser boarded a plane thirty minutes ago, and it’s headed for California. He will be landing at the San Jose airport. Official charges were filed, and the court issued a restraining order. His decision to come to California is a direct violation of the restraining order, which bars him from leaving the kingdom to pursue Madelyn. He has no known family nor friends in this kingdom, nor does he have any business he needs to conduct. As such, as soon as we can verify he abused her here, you can eliminate him with extreme prejudice. When the restraining order was issued, he was given a list of kingdoms where he might be killed if he were found to be approaching or intending to approach Madelyn. He signed off on this, as he did not wish to go to prison. He’s essentially on parole, and as long as he stays away from Madelyn, he can live his life almost normally.”

“Almost,” I muttered. “Mom? Can you give Madelyn a detail?”

“I love how readily you have accepted my edict to become yet another one of my children. I already tricked the rest of your siblings into accepting us as their new parents. Also, I have half of them over in Half Moon Bay learning how to be part of a healthy family. We did notify them that you had been shot by terrorists. We have not notified them that your parents are unfortunately alive and well.”

“And if I find out they were at all involved with these terrorists, they will not be alive nor well for long,” I grumbled. “I’ll even give them a nice pair of urns and store them in the palace mausoleum. And yes, we have a literal mausoleum where we store the urns and ashes of family members.”

Dennis had the nicest of the urns, and I’d handled gathering his remains myself, something I’d asked the RPS to keep quiet.

My parents wouldn’t have understood. In what I still viewed as a miracle, the RPS had.

We all coped with grief in different ways.

“It is a possibility, one we’re looking into closely. We’re already gathering information on the terrorists. Thank you for leaving everything except their bodies intact. It has made cleanup remarkably easy, and they were so confident of their victory that most of them had identification cards on them—their real and false identification cards.” Terry sat on the armchair near me and joined me in stretching out. “Your Majesty, I trust you’re aware of the situation with Madelyn?”

“Having raised four boys, two of whom are safely nestled with their partners, I can tell when a young man has fallen in love with someone. Also, you’re hopeless, Ian. If you want to disguise your adoration for her, you’re going to have to have a talk with your face about your expressions. Even dense women are going to be tipped off with the way your face is talking. Terry? Is she just clueless?”

“She is becoming rather suspicious regarding Ian’s behavior, but after her previous home situation, she’s happy to be receiving attention without pressure. She is quite confused on the lack of pressure whatsoever, however. She does not want to be relegated into friends only territory, but she has no idea how to approach the situation. The fact you want to reduce her ex to ash has done a great deal for her general self-esteem.”

“She thought the abuse was in her head, didn’t she?”

“It’s one of the top moves abusers like to do to their victims to make certain they stay,” Terry confirmed. “We’re keeping a close eye on her, and should she become frustrated with your rather meticulous nature when it comes to approaching women, we’ll let you know so you can, perhaps, indicate you have a rather healthy interest in her.”

“I don’t want to scare her.”

“She’s figured that out. And Your Majesty, at least try to resist the urge to matchmake.”

“How about I drop hints that he’s one of the best eligible bachelors on the market? And I won’t recommend those other two sons of mine. They’re useless.”

Poor Mike and Robert. “What did they do now?”

“Robert has been trying to convince Cicely he’s actually worth the air he breathes. Cicely is absolutely not convinced, as she’s gotten glimpses of Ethan doting on Rachel, and she is not sure she’s ready for any sort of doting.”

If heaven couldn’t help me, nobody could. Of all my sisters, Cicely shared an unfortunate number of traits with my mother, although she’d gotten at least some kindness and goodness from whomever her father happened to be. However, she suffered from the same problems as most of the family, although by the time she’d been born, I’d mastered the art of drawing our parents’ ire.

Cicely had the gentlest childhood, although that hadn’t stopped her from becoming spoiled.

“Robert’s trying to court Cicely?” I asked, struggling to comprehend my little sister becoming a Californian.

“Trust me on this one, Ian, I was just as surprised as you are. You’ll need to spend some time with your siblings, at least the ones that are here. They’re changing rather rapidly, especially now that they’re learning we’re not going to whoop their ass—or yours—for any misbehaviors. Now that their parents aren’t expecting them to be spoiled little demons expecting wealth and prestige, they’re growing into their shoes. Cecily has decided that she’s finding redemption through rescuing every little animal she can get her hands on. So far, Robert has had to pull her out of four dumpsters, which she has been searching for abandoned cats and dogs. Much to my dismay, one of the dumpsters had a litter of abandoned puppies. Those puppies are now Robert’s puppies, and he’s ruthlessly using them to charm your sister. It’s horrific. As I’m, apparently, not allowed to formally adopt the entire lot of you, I have to settle with making off with another one of your sisters.”

“Robert’s really trying to court Cicely?” I asked again, struggling to imagine how those two had anything in common.

“He’s definitely going to need a minute or three to process that, Your Majesty,” Terry informed the queen. “What are your plans for Madelyn’s ex?”

“I’m going to use Ian as bait to lure him out, give Madelyn a glass of her wine, and handle the matter personally. His piddly little talent has no chance against me. And apparently, my husband and one of his brothers wish to be in attendance.”

“Hadrian?” Terry asked.

“Yep. He was in the room helping to handle the airstrip incident when the RPS informed us the bastard had booked a ticket to come here. Oh, Terry, we figured out how he learned she was probably coming here. Nobody did anything illegal, but a reporter had mentioned the trip in an article about Ian and his baby girls. It was a footnote, but he must have been looking for an opening. A clear violation of his parole, frankly.”

“I’ll get Daphne to do the verification if Will won’t be here in time.”

“Will is going to be landing at the main airport within the next thirty minutes. Zach is going to bring him with Peter and the Montana agents coming along for the ride. Mackenzie was not invited, nor were their children. Sorry, Terry. Expect to be ambushed.”

“I want to watch this,” I announced. “Please lure His Royal Majesty to wherever I am at so I can observe him attempt to browbeat Terry. And make sure Eddie is around, because Eddie could use the reminder that Terry is a Montana Royal now.”

Everyone needed the reminder, and that meant dealing with the Montana family drama when something went wrong.

Terry eyed his jacket. “We’ll get the best reaction out of him if you’re putting your finger through the hole in my jacket while asking questions, Ian.”

I snickered at the thought of helping drive Will right over the ledge. “I will hope that my fever stays away long enough for us to implement this plan.”

“As the adult supervision, I should be telling you both that this is a terrible plan, but honestly, are children even happy if they aren’t causing the adult supervision some trouble? Just keep the trouble manageable. We do not need any additional heart attacks today. I have a line, and that’s my line. Do not cross it.”